Dressed for the part at great event

Finally, a social event for which I was aptly dressed. Friends and colleagues had to special order shirts, vests and other attire for Onslow Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Mardi Gras fundraiser. All I had to do was pick out one of the loud shirts I normally wear.

Finally, a social event for which I was aptly dressed. Friends and colleagues had to special order shirts, vests and other attire for Onslow Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Mardi Gras fundraiser. All I had to do was pick out one of the loud shirts I normally wear.

For the evening it was my casino shirt with playing cards and poker chips. Michelle wore a black dress, but she’s a knockout in anything. We stopped at the Dollar Tree for some beads and we were ready.

My youngest son asked where we were going and I explained we were going to a party like the ones in all the Batman movies where all the rich folks of Gotham City gather to raise money for charity.

“Until the Joker shows up?” my son asked. Good point, why do they have costume balls in Gotham?

Well, the clown prince of crime didn’t show up Saturday, but their were plenty of jokers. One colleague wore a wild feathered mask he said he had laying around the house. It made me wonder what else he had laying around.

I haven’t seen so many scantily clad women wearing stilted footwear in one place in Jacksonville since the night the sheriff shut down Club Mickey’s.

Saturday night was all for a good cause. It was affirming to see so many people coming out to support our hospital. The foundation is raising money to build a new patient tower. It’s a win-win for everyone as better facilities mean more patients staying here in Onslow County which means more money for our local economy.

The evening was a collection of the movers and shakers of Jacksonville (along with a few folks like me and Michelle who received complementary tickets). It reminded me of George W. Bush at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner when he said, “This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have-mores.”

During the auction when the foundation was selling diamond necklaces, a week at a beach resort and other high-dollar items, I felt like James Bond. You know where he shows up at an event on the French Riviera and grabs everyone’s attention by outbidding the bad guy for a Fabergé egg. Except I didn’t have Her Majesty’s money to play with.

I did win a basket full of Cajun spices during the silent auction. I won because I was the only person to bid on it — confirming my wife’s accusation that North Carolinians know nothing about hot food. As a genuine Louisiana creole, Michelle is an expert on spicy fixins.

She had no complaints Saturday. The food wasn’t as Cajun as she had hoped it would be when I told her we were going to a Mardi Gras party, but it did receive her approval. Usually at events like this, the caterer tries to be fancy and ends up falling flat.